Rampage Woes Begin Early

Two travel weary teams played a hockey game Sunday afternoon at the AT&T Center.

The visiting Lake Erie Monsters flew in from Dallas after busing to north Texas from their 4-3 loss in Oklahoma City. That had to be a fun trek after they blew a 3-0 lead against the new Barons.

The Rampage bused home from Cedar Park and got in after midnight after seeing their 3-1 lead evaporate in a 5-4 overtime setback to the Texas Stars. They actually played one of their best games of the season, but had little time to reflect on it.

They had to get ready to play again in 16 hours.

No matter how much players don’t want to use travel as an excuse, too much of anything usually isn’t a good thing.

The Rampage were sluggish in the first period Sunday, which could be caused by their nocturnal wanderings, or it could be in the drinking water, since many a Rampage team have suffered from “early hockey game lack of motivation” syndrome. This Sunday matinee being their third game in less than 72 hours could also account for the lack of legs, when they managed a mere two shots for the first 19:30 of the 20 minute opening period.

The Barons had more energy, but that waned as the game went on, being outshot and outchanced in the second period, 14-8, despite taking a 1-0 lead after two.

If one thought the Rampage would have trouble scoring on veteran AHL netminder Jason Bacashihua, it was cemented on the save of the early season late in the second period. The native Michigander, who won a ring going 17-3-1-1 last season in Hershey, recovered nicely in what could have been an embarrassing situation.

Rampage center Andrew Ebbett stole the puck from the Monsters masked man and saucered a pass onto the stick of Mikkel Boedker, who fired the puck toward the far end of the cage. Somehow, Bacashihua came around the side of the net, flicked out his right leg and got the shot square on the pad, leaving Boedker shaking his head.

Alex Picard, who scored two goals Saturday night, finally broke the Sunday ice for San Antonio, lifting a lazy shot over the prone Bacashihua at 8:49.

“I play with two skills guys (Viktor Tikhonov and Tim Stapleton) and my job is to go to the net,” said the former Columbus first-round pick who was acquired in March. “Those guys make plays all the time, so I just need to get my stick on the ice in front of the net and wait for the puck.”

Saturday night, Picard scored on a nice wrist shot from the left circle, and then put the Rampage back on top, 4-3, with a power play goal from his home away from home, the top of the goal crease.

“With the new rules, (playing in front) is pretty easy,” explained Picard. “Back in the day, the crosscheck was allowed and the slashing was allowed, so in junior I had a lot of bruises, but now it’s not that bad.”

Mikkel Boedker’s shootout winner was a nice change, since the Rampage went 2-7 in the game-deciding event. Ray Edwards said they have yet to practice it, so that may be the key to success. He had to get Assistant Coach Jeff Truitt’s input on whose names to put on the shooting list. Tim Stapleton also scored for S.A., while Matt Climie allowed an opening round goal before stopping the final four shots for the win.

But questions remain about this Rampage team.

Picard looks like the go-to man on offense right now, although Matt Beaudoin’s hustle has turned into five goals to lead the team. His power play backhander on a loose puck in the crease gave the Rampage a 2-1 lead with 8:38 left in regulation.

But beyond those two, who is going to get the offense cranked up?

Brett MacLean is closing in on the all-time Rampage scoring record, but he is going at it at a glacial pace, scoring just one goal in five games.

Through the first four games, MacLean had more shots, 28, than the Cowboys had points on Sunday (21), but Coach Ray Edwards needs to see the red light shine at the end of a MacLean attempt.

Edwards will say this team, with all the new faces, is a work in progress. Since there are only THREE players who went end-to-end last season, that certainly is a valid point.

But these two points in October count in the standings just as much as the points do in March. And last year, even with the Ray Recovery following the disastrous November losing streak that cost Greg Ireland his job, the players were vocal in their lament that they let too many opportunities get away in the early going.

This is the early going. And the Rampage are hoping they can find consistency and success this week in the four games they have to play.

Little Trivia Question — Who were the three players who played the majority of last season with the Rampage who are back in the silver and black?

Post-Game Edwards

“We are just not in sync. We’re still learning about each other. We’re still trying to get chemistry in lines. They are still learning about me. I’m still learning about them. Maybe it’s going to take a little more time than we thought, but what we have to do is manufacture points like we did tonight until we get playing.”

“I think we were all fooled by the first night (6-3 win over Chicago). We played really well. It looked like we played together for years. But it’s going to take some time. There were some good things tonight, although we came out flat, which we can do at home. But found a way to get going in the third and get ourselves back in it. It makes you realize how hard it is to win and how much work we have to do.”

Weekend Wonderings

Try not to look too much into the standings at this early stage of the season, but the Rampage have played against some of the better teams in the division and the league.

The Peoria Rivermen have bolted out to a 5-1 start after killing the Stars in Cedar Park Sunday, 5-2.

After the Rampage slapped them around in the season opener, the Chicago Wolves have rebounded to play like, well, the Chicago Wolves, winning three straight.

Every team in the league has won at least one game. You could always seem to count on the Rochester Americans to go 0-10, but the league looks to be very competitive each night.

On the other side of the ledger, every Western Conference team has at least one loss. The only undefeated teams are Willks-Barre/Scranton and Norfolk.

Matt Beaudoin’s five goals has him tied for the league lead with two other players. Can’t remember the last time any Rampage player could say that in the same sentence.

You have to think Al Montoya would like another chance before his stats go into the book for this season in San Antonio. Should he be called up or sent down, his line of 0-1-0 with a goal against of 6.03 and save percentage of .700 would not be a good commentary on his resume.

I think of former Dragons goalie Bruce Racine, who always wished he got that one NHL win, since the one shot he had in the Show left him with a lifetime mark of 0-3-0 record with a 3.13 GAA. Not as bad as Travis Scott’s no record but 7.20 GAA in just 25 minutes of NHL action.

Three Rampage players from last season? Ryan Hollweg, Brett MacLean and Jeff May.